Kofi Annan speaks on Religion, Pluralism, and Democracy

“Globalization, while integrating the world’s economies, societies and people more than ever, and creating unprecedented wealth across the globe, is also generating a backlash because the benefits are not fairly shared and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The losers of globalization- encouraged by populist politicians – are retreating into primal identities, some real, some imagined, as bulwarks against uncertainty and fear. Around the world, groups or movements are trying to reject the ties that bind all of us across religious, national, racial, and class divides. Populist and xenophobic movements are demonizing migrants and other minorities in the name of protecting their own identities, often based on some notion of ethnic and or religious purity. Even more brutally, religious extremists are denying humanity not only to those of different faiths, but even to those of their own faith who do not share their convictions. Diversity is increasingly being portrayed as a threat that undermines our societies, rather than an asset that can benefit us all.”